Paul Gilding

Paul Gilding's Biography

Paul Gilding is an independent writer, activist and adviser on a sustainable economy. Travelling the world he speaks to numerous organisations, governments and associations about climate change and the crisis unfolding around us.  A thought provoking speaker, Paul Gilding shares his knowledge and commitment to climate change.

Paul Gilding has spent 35 years trying to change the world, doing everything he can think off. He’s served in the Australian military, chased nuclear armed aircraft carriers in small inflatable boats, plugged up industrial waste discharge pipes, been global CEO of Greenpeace, taught at Cambridge University, owned and run two ground-breaking sustainability focused companies and been a close confidant and advisor to the CEOs of some the world’s largest companies.

Despite the clear lack of progress, the unstoppable and flexible optimist is now an author and advocate, writing his widely acclaimed book “The Great Disruption”, which prompted Tom Freidman to write in the NYT: “Ignore Gilding at your peril”. He now travels the world alerting people – in business, community groups, government and even the military –  to the global economic and ecological crisis now unfolding around us, as the world economy reaches and passes the limits to growth. 

He is confident we can get through what’s coming and in fact thinks we will rise to the occasion, with change on a scale and at a speed incomprehensible today. He tells us to get prepared for The Great Disruption and “the end of shopping”, as we reinvent the global economy and our model of social progress.

He has advised the CEO’s and Executives of companies like DuPont, Ford Motor Company, Anglo American, Diageo and many others. Through this work he has developed close working relationships with a large number of CEO’s and executives around the world, helping them to deepen their understanding of sustainability issues, particularly the relationship to business value and strategy. He has also maintained close links with the NGO community and helped to develop stronger partnerships, understanding and relationships with business

About Paul Gilding

• Paul is a regular writing and commentary is published on this site as The Cockatoo Chronicles, that is emailed free to subscribers and both these and other writing is published at Giles Parkinson’s ReNew Economy website.
• He has advisory relationships with various companies in Australia and internationally. These currently include serving on the Sustainability Advisory Board of Dutch company DSM and acting as an advisor to NZ Dairy Coop, Fonterra. He has in recent years also advised and conducted speaking engagements for various companies including BHP Billiton, Fosters, Stocklands, DuPont, Object Consulting and the Victorian EPA
• He is one of the Global Core Faculty of the Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme run by Cambridge University’s Program for Sustainable Leadership and is Chairman of the Australian program. In this program he lectures and facilitates senior executive seminars and special programs around the world driving corporate action on sustainability. These have included the groundbreaking P8 Summit where the Chairman/CEOs of 8 of the world’s largest pension funds came together to define action they could take on climate change.
• A further major thought piece “The Great Disruption” on the global economic impacts of an ecological crash was published in 2008. It has been widely acclaimed and written about around the world and will be published in book form by Bloomsbury Press in the United States in 2011.
•  A joint paper with Professor Jorgen Randers, co-author of the Limits to Growth will be published in May 2010 by the Journal of Global Responsibility. It is titled ‘the One Degree War Plan” and describes how society is likely to respond on a war footing to climate change when it accepts the civilization threatening nature of the issue.
• He is a regular and sought after speaker at business conferences and corporate events around the world and his speaking and work has taken him to over 30 countries.

Paul is a director a number of non-profit organizations including:

• Founding Director of the internet based youth charity The Inspire Foundation where he also served a term as Chairman.
• Founding Director of Climate Coolers an Australian charity which recently launched Natalie Isaac’s 1 million women campaign to mobilise women in climate change action
• Founding Director and now council member of the Australian Business Community Network – a charity led by the CEO’s of major Australian companies.

 

Speaking Topics Include

Environmental Strategies
Green Marketing - Getting it Right
The Environment as Part of Your Vision